Court Conclusion Cancels Complete Control on Conversions, Creates Citizenship Controversy

Israel’s Supreme Court on Monday issued a landmark ruling that is sure to resonate throughout the March 23 election cycle and beyond, ordering the government to award citizenship to those who converted to Judaism from within Israel through non-Orthodox institutions. The decision, which comes after more than a decade of procrastination by the Israeli government and a failure by parliament to pass a coherent bill regulating the conversion process, was predictably slammed by religious lawmakers in the ultra-Orthodox parties, who vowed to overturn it via a bill in the coming parliamentary session. Prior to the ruling, Jews living abroad who had taken the Reform or Conservative avenues to convert were recognized by Jerusalem and afforded an Israeli citizenship under the nation’s Law of Return. Yet those living in Israel who had undergone the same non-Orthodox conversions were not allowed to receive citizenship. The court’s decision to correct this is likely to become a major point of contention in the upcoming elections.